Americans Falling Behind on Credit Card Payments at Alarming Rate

Okay, at the point, when I card my new card with the 18.99% interest rate instead of the 0.00%, I simply wouldn't activate it. I'd call the credit
card company and tell them that I thought that I was approve for 0.00& and now that I see that I'm not, I don't want the card.

I don't go ahead, max out the card, let late payment penalties and whatnot accrue and then cry that I was scammed by the big, bad bank.

Besides, as some else posted, those offers say PRE-APPROVED not APPROVED, there's a big difference and in the fine print it tells that all offers are
subject to a credit check.

No matter how you slice and dice it. The problem of debt always falls back on the consumer. Don't blame a bank for dangling a piece of plastic in
front of your face. You don't have to take it. Don't blame a bank for your greed, impulsive buying habits and general propensity to live outside
of your means and to supplement that lifestyle by running yourself into debt.

Show some financial planning and self-control people and you won't be in debt. Credit cards can very helpful in with emergency expenses that can
come up, but they shouldn't be used to supplement your lifestyle.

Come people, wake up. You try to blame banks for your debt but no one ever forced you to take that mortgage or apply for those loans and credit
cards. You did it on your own. You saw the interests rates. You saw the penalties for nonpayment. It's what you agreed to with your signature.
YOU let YOUR spending get out of control and then you hide behind debt consolidation programs and bankruptcy to make the debt go away.

People, take care of the debt that you accrue. It's money that you spent. Pay it back. It's as simple as that. Don't cry that your interest rates
aren't fair. Maybe you shouldn't have had all of those late payments and whatnot. Besides, the bank is only doing what they said in writing that
they would do. Don't be suprised when it happens.

If you don't want to be in debt either work more and/or get a better job, consume less or do both. Don't blame banks for your idiotic spending
practices

Originally posted by poet1b
Pre-approved, subject to approval, that's got to be the fourth biggest lie of all time.

But you don't have to keep the card when you see that you didn't qualify for the 0.0% "pre-approved" rate. You can CHOOSE not to activate it; to
call the bank and say, "Nevermind, I don't want this card. The interest rate blows." But, people don't concern themselves with that. They see
that they got a new card and they run to the mall buy crap that they don't need and can't afford. Then, a couple months later, when the interest
starts adding up, they cry about how the credit card company took advantage of their stupidity... So lame

Not taking my own advice? I use credit cards, but I use them the way they were meant to be used, I pay my bill in full every single month, thus I
don't pay any interest even though my interest rate is 21.99%. (Another way you can beat the system)

That's so true. I pay the my entire balance monthly as well and it works great. I think the problem for most though is that they don't have
budgets or simply can't stick the budgets that they make. So they use their credit card for $100, knowing that they can only pay $50 at the end of
the month and are left with a $50 balance that's subject to interest rates. Let that happen for a few months and it really adds up

Originally posted by poet1b
I don't see all credit card companies as crooks and predatory lenders, only a small percentage.

Credit cards in general are very useful for making some purchases.

This doesn't excuse the predatory lending practices of a few bad companies.

I completely agree with these statements. I believe those companies out there that do practice predatory lending should be shut down, fined, and
dealt with. Not only for being deceiving but for also giving the banks who don't use these practices a bad name and reputation.

You haven't had a point in at least twenty posts, all you've been doing is ranting. As always, logic trumps ideology. The last few posts made by
other people says exactly what I would have said. In fact, I even agree with YOUR last post.

Don't buy stuff you can't afford. Its just that simple. If you must due to an emergency or act of God, ensure that you have credit that has terms
you like before you use it. Otherwise, pay off what you owe at the end of every month. I use credit cards for everything I buy for the rewards, and I
don't pay $0.01 in interest or fees. They pay me

Sometimes, it really is just that simple. Are there credit card companies that are deceptive? Sure. But there are LOTS of companies that are
deceptive. I'd rather my tax money not be spent chasing after "evil" companies, instead, tax me less. I'll leave it up to me to do my own research
before I enter into contracts.

Originally posted by LightinDarkness
I would be fine with stopping all business from taking my personal property. Not to mention currently most states already prohibit wage garnishment by
unsecured creditors.

You have a shred of Libertarianism in you after all! Funny how a few pages ago it was nowhere to be found.

However you're mistaken again. All but four states allow wage garnishment for debt collection.
www.fair-debt-collection.com.... No differences between secured and unsecured debt are specified.

It's really all we need to do to fix the problem. Or at least get it moving towards a solution, as what I described would be the most likely result.
We can cry and scream all day long about how stupid some people are for failing to understand what they signed, or simply not reading it. But that
doesn't keep the ship from sinking. We're all on board, and either we all help patch the hole or we all go down. You're either part of the
solution, or part of the problem.

Originally posted by BluByWho
And here is another one. Deny the consumers the ability to use the government to file bankruptcy. Then they have no choice but to pay back the money
the took.

Fine by me. Congress already did this to some extent... it's now much more difficult for consumers to declare bankruptcy.

I think as long as theft or fraud aren't involved, the government should just stay out of it. Let the market deal with deadbeat debtors and scumbag
creditors. The deadbeats will never be able to use credit again and the scumbags won't be able to sustain their scummy ways.

I mistyped - I should have said "full" garnishment. Almost no states - as the website shows - allow full wage garnishments. Exemptions galore,
without exception. Additionally, not only will most courts not make a garnishment order but they are relatively easy to dodge. Wage garnishment exists
primarily for child support and taxes.

In any event, I'm fine with not allowing garnishment for credit card debt.

I'm glad we could all agree. It's too bad a few (creditors and debtors) take advantage of the system and mess things up for everyone else, but that
is the nature of the beast.

The sad thing is that there are a lot of people in bad situations right now. It seems that there is bad news all around. It is not good when a
majority of Christmas shoppers are adding on debt more than ever, which from what I understand is the current situation. The last two years haven't
been very good, and this next one looks like it is going to be the worst.

It most certainly is, and that is the same mentality that robbers have, or fraud experts. "Let's see what we can get away with, and play the system
for our benefit...and screw everyone else while we're at it".

Thanks....for spending money you didn't have, and that you didn't pay back. I use credit cards, but pay them off with my refund check at tax time
each year. That's right....I have the govt. with hold too much each month, so I get a fat check at the end. I'm not a good saver...so I force
myself to save by having the IRS take too much to begin with. Works for me...every year a $10K refund that mostly goes to pay off debt, and splurge
just a little.

Of course you are thereby giving a interest-free loan to Uncle Sam, and you gain no interest on it - where as if you had saved that money, that would
have been at least an extra $500 (savings account) or $1,000 (stock market index fund) at the end of the year.

Its not surprising that we are now beginning to see problems in credit card debt defaults. People have been using their houses as ATMs in the past
few years but this source of funding is now drying up due to the housing bust. Now the only source of credit left are the high interest credit cards
everyone and his dog got thru the mail. This credit crisis is beginning to spread like wildfire and will only worsen. Next we will begin to see
downgrades of bond insurance companies like MBIA, and ACA Financial from AAA to poor. When that happens look out below because the whole bond market
will tank.

Get out of any money market funds that invest in municipal bonds, corporate bonds, mortgage securities, CDOs, credit card debt etc. now as the next
wave a selling will hit these very hard. If insurers lose their AAA rating the assets they insure will also be downgraded. The only safe place will
be US treasuries, gold and silver and hard assets of any kind except for housing of course.

Despite what the talking heads tell us on tout TV this is not your garden variety crisis like what happened with Long Term Capital - this is much much
worse as our whole system of credit is imploding right before our eyes. Credit has virtually evopoarated as banks are absolutely frightened to lend
to each other let alone Joe average. Credit is the lifeblood of the economy and without it the engines are beginning to seize and stop.

The FED is indeed between a rock and hard place as there are few alternatives left for them to persue at this juncture. Either they allow the whole
thing to implode ( thus allowing the economy to tank into a 1929 style deflationary depression ) to cleanse the bad debt in the system or inflate like
mad to keep the credit bubble going and thus the economy going for a little while longer. My gut feel tells me helicopter Ben will live up to his
name and inflate like mad. And seeing how a tanking economy is never good for incumbent politicians in office I can only imagine the heat and
pressure poor Ben is getting now to cut interests rates further. Its good bye to the buck if that happens and hello to hyperinflation. Got gold and
silver?

It is this sort of emotion based panic that ensures people like I make money. Yes, the sky is falling! I encourage you to sell, sell, sell, get into
gold and silver! In a few years when the market is going up you'll be buying the shares I'm holding now for an inflated price

This is why most investors BUY HIGH and SELL LOW. For those interested in actually making money, buy and hold through the bad times - don't join the
idiots selling like its doomsday. Because they do it every few years.

As the Baron Rothschild so eloquently said, "buy when there is blood in the streets..."

By the way, municipal bonds are the most conservative investment you could be in. If you were already in bonds that much you can't really get much
more conservative.

Yes, hold on to your munis. Bye the way to do you know where munis get most of their income from? Property taxes you dolt! And when property prices
are falling and homeowners go into foreclosure what happens to property taxes? Duh. And for your information I have made a ton of money betting on
the commodity boom in the last five years as well as betting against our falling US dollar by investing in foreign markets. Why do you think smart
investors like Warren Buffet and Jim Rogers are moving alot of their investments out of the country? They are not idiots. They see what is coming to
our shores. As much as I love this country and have made some great investments in US companies the writing is on the wall for this American Empire.
Well that is my 2 cents and you can take it or leave it.

LOL! One of my many previous jobs was working in local government administration (by now I've worked at all levels of government). Municipal bonds
are financed using the extremely harsh GASB standards which basically means that governments only finance bonds using guaranteed income - money from
investments, tax increment financing, etc. They also rely on a very low base of property taxes to finance them. Debt repayment is structured to where
bonds must be repaid first - no matter if it means cutting services, or what they have to do to come up with the money. Municipal bonds are safe, have
always been safe, and will be safe for a long time to come.

I dont hold muis though, because they are far too conservative. Stock market index funds are much better.

Every few years I see people like you lead the charge to emotional panic while I sit on the sidelines laughing. You continue to SELL when prices are
LOW, I'll be there to sell to you when the prices are HIGH.

If your betting against the dollar your nothing more than a currency speculator, and that shows why your trying to stir up panic. Your not an
investor, your a gambler. You win some with currency speculation - and you lose, most of the time. Enjoy your gains while they last

I always see people like you try to stir panic by saying ZOMG BUFFET IS DOING IT! The reality is Buffet's financial moves go back and forth, recently
he's been reinvesting in the US economy. Not to mention the average investor is stupid if they judge themselves on Buffets moves - the type of
financial strategies you do with BILLIONS does not apply to those with a few thousand or even few a few million in the market.

More smoke and mirrors. You lead the panic though, I'm happy to profit from you in a few years

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